A Trinamool Congress delegation accuses Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of failing to answer key questions on Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision, alleging bias, administrative lapses, and human toll in West Bengal’s voter list revision process. Opposition demands transparency and accountability.
A high-level Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation on Monday alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar “failed to answer five crucial questions” regarding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The delegation, comprising 10 senior party leaders, met Election Commission of India (ECI) officials at the Commission’s headquarters in New Delhi to present what it described as “serious discrepancies” and “grave human costs” linked to the voter-list revision process.
According to Derek O’Brien, leader of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha and head of the delegation, the Commission had ignored repeated alerts from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Both leaders had earlier warned that completing the SIR process within the current timeline was “unrealistic” and could lead to excessive pressure on field-level officials responsible for data verification and collection.
“Yet the ECI ignored repeated warnings on this count, and the human toll continued while following the Commission’s orders that clearly prioritise partisan advantage over life and fairness,” O’Brien said after the meeting. He alleged that the revision exercise was being implemented in a manner that created “panic” among booth-level officers (BLOs) and citizens. “These horrifying incidents expose a chilling truth: the BJP, aided by a pliant Election Commission, is willing to sacrifice human lives for power,” he added.
Five Questions ‘Without Answers’
O’Brien said the delegation placed five specific questions before the Election Commission, none of which received a satisfactory response. The first, he said, was whether the actual intent behind the SIR was to detect fake voters or so-called “infiltrators”, noting that Bengal was being singled out while other border states were not subject to similar scrutiny. “Why this selective targeting?” he asked.
The second question pertained to the credibility of the voters’ list used in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. If the list was faulty, O’Brien argued, it raised a constitutional question: Could the validity of the present Union Cabinet—elected on the basis of that list—be challenged?
The third and fourth questions focused on the human toll associated with the revision process. According to the delegation, several BLOs and common citizens in West Bengal reportedly died due to “inhuman pressure”, stress-related ailments, or suicide linked to the workload. “Does the Election Commission accept responsibility for these deaths?” O’Brien asked. He further questioned why the Commission had barred staff at ‘Bangla Sahayata Kendras’ (state-run public service centres) from assisting in voter-related data entry, despite their technical capability.
The fifth question sought clarity on why the SIR was being conducted with unusual urgency and without flexibility for BLOs handling large workloads.
Voices from the Delegation
Satabdi Roy, four-time Lok Sabha MP and deputy leader of the party in the Lower House, said the Commission offered “no explanation” regarding the deaths of field-level officials and citizens during the revision drive. “Why is the Commission refusing to allow Bangla Sahayata Kendra staff to assist? Why must BLOs alone bear this inhuman burden?” she asked. Roy alleged that the ECI was “bending over backwards to benefit the BJP while completely ignoring legitimate opposition concerns.”
Mahua Moitra, two-time TMC Lok Sabha MP, echoed similar sentiments, claiming the Commission lacked even basic data on the number of BLOs who had allegedly taken their own lives due to the “unbearable pressure” of SIR-related work. “They do not know how many citizens have been pushed to despair,” she said.
Moitra further questioned why the so-called anti-infiltration verification drive was being conducted only in West Bengal. “BJP-ruled border states such as Assam, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh remain untouched. The Commission had no explanation,” she added.
No Official EC Response Yet
The Election Commission has not released a formal statement responding to the allegations. However, officials have earlier maintained that the SIR is a routine electoral roll update conducted according to established guidelines.
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The political standoff over voter-list revisions is expected to intensify in the coming weeks, with the Trinamool Congress signalling plans for further protests and petitions if their concerns remain unaddressed.
